Dictator's Son's 11 Supercars Fetch $3.1m in Auction

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This incredibly valuable collection went for a fraction of its worth.

We’ve all heard the stories about police auctions where cars are picked up for much less than their worth. Think of this as the same thing but on a bigger scale. French authorities have seized many millions of dollars’ worth of cars, art, fine wine and antique furniture from the €80 million, 101-room Paris mansion belonging to Teodorin Obiang, son of Teodor Obiang, ruling dictator of Equatorial Guinea, which were determined to have been bought with stolen state money.

Teodorin is also one of his country’s two vice presidents, and diplomatic immunity means he is prevented from being prosecuted for the embezzlement of millions from the oil-rich county’s coffers. But a French court has decided that this protection did not extend to his ill-gotten property, and seized all of it, including his fleet of cars. Obiang’s 26 cars were mostly purchased in the United States and then imported to France. Some were then moved to Equatorial Guinea, despite the country having few paved roads, but many stayed in France, although even these mostly have zero or single-digit mileage on them.

The list of seized vehicles includes two Bugatti Veyrons, two Bentleys, a Rolls-Royce, a Ferrari, a Porsche Carerra GT, a Maserati MC12 and a Maybach. We not sure of all the models, but it’s a pretty valuable list no matter what. The cars were auctioned by Drouot for a total of $3.1 million, or $311,000 per car. Considering that most of the cars have never been driven and are worth much more than that, we’re going to say that's one hell of a deal.